How Do I Compete for Jobs Against Candidates with Experience?

The reality many graduates are facing is that they are competing for jobs against individuals with experience. Even in those situations where experience is not required. How one navigates that space depends to a degree on your past journey, your creativity and, to a certain extent, what sacrifices you are prepared to make to get ahead. Ideally, you have made investments in yourself throughout your academic career. But if you find yourself standing at the point of graduation lacking certain professional experience, all is not lost.

?

While you might aspire to break into that top tech company, hot biotech start-up or even a major healthcare organization, those opportunities are limited at any given time. Plus, you are likely to face the strongest competition from experienced individuals.

?

Your solution – get some experience yourself!

?

Consider instead how experiences in smaller organizations including start-ups, CROs, CMOs and related support industries can help position you for your preferred career path. Or perhaps in academic or government settings.

?

Show creativity in leveraging job opportunities that expand both your skillsets and provide valuable time in a professional environment. Be flexible in your options. You might not aspire to live in (insert place name here) long term but if a significant role is available, look at it as a fixed duration investment.

?

First, you gain valuable business experience. Second, you might like those situations better than you thought. Perhaps a new fork in your career path? Third, you make valuable professional contacts. Leverage those contacts to expand your professional network. Finally, those groups collaborate with bigger players in their business ecosystem. You gain valuable insight into those partners, and they potentially gain visibility to you. Ultimately, that visibility may lead to future opportunities.

Network, network, network! Over time, your connections will make their way into the business environment and can become valuable resources. While they are not likely to be hiring managers for new roles, they can provide useful insight into hiring opportunities and practices plus connect you to hiring teams and managers.

Leveraging hiring portals at companies is an essential part of initiating the hiring process but done in isolation you might as well be throwing your resume into a hurricane. Who knows where it will end up? Many organizations use electronic means to triage applications based on key words against core job requirements. Understandable as oftentimes they see a tsunami of applications for roles but the odds of your application surviving that electronic gauntlet are not high.

But leveraging your contacts at an organization might give you the edge you need so that your interest is not passed over before the right people see your resume. Be proactive. If your contacts know you are on the job hunt and what types of roles you might be qualified for, they can think through how they can help. Perhaps connect with you with individuals ahead of time.

So, if you see an interesting job posting, apply right away! You have nothing to lose. Don't waste time contacting your connections and asking to be introduced to the hiring manager to learn more about the role before you apply. You will lose valuable time and the window for applications might close before you ever get to that meeting. Plus, they will have already received many qualified applicants and are already considering who will merit follow-up. Your late arrival will have less impact.

Once you apply, you then can use your contacts to gain information, perhaps get a referral, etc. But be realistic about the limits of this assistance. If you are not the right fit for the role or there are more qualified applicants, no amount of advocacy is going to change the outcome.

Finally, rejection is hard. Perhaps you did not get an interview, perhaps you were interviewed but not selected. While it is perhaps logical to assume your background was lacking, in many cases there were other candidates with stronger credentials, more experienced or were just a better fit for the role. You just need to keep your head high and keep searching.

?

Start Early and Perhaps Reduce the Obstacles

Ideally though, starting early enough to be thoughtful about how to best leverage undergraduate and graduate experiences outside of your coursework or graduate program places you in an even stronger position to compete coming out of school. You won’t necessarily have the same hands-on work proficiency as more seasoned industry veterans, but you can weave together those experiences in a manner that shows your investment beyond the classroom.

?

Undergraduate Students

?

Undergraduate research, summer experiences, do-ops, internships, and engagement in professional societies won’t put you head-to-head with seasoned industry pros but they can show intentional efforts on your part to invest in your development. If nothing else, those experiences will differentiate you from others who lack those accomplishments. Consider how to best articulate your learning from your journey. Also, they put you in a stronger position should you consider further education.

?

As an undergraduate student, start laying that groundwork when you are a first-year student. You may not get opportunities in the first 1-2 years, but I see many students who start too late and then scramble to find any roles. Get to know professors to share your interest about their labs, meet recruiting teams at campus in those early years and constantly leverage information sources (people, internet, school).

Can’t find the necessary information online? Do it the old-fashioned way – meet people! Connect with people who can answer your questions or at least connect you to others who know the answers.

?

Make smart choices when you are given the opportunity for contact with professionals. Don’t be the student who misses the chance to meet with representatives of your dream company because it conflicts with your Interpretative Dance class. One might get you a lucky break, the other not so much. Similarly, don’t be the person who overlooked or ‘forgot’ about the multiple messages when recruiters were coming to campus. Remember, there are plenty of hungry students who will prioritize that meeting and will have first mover advantage as a result.

Masters Students

The masters degree is an interesting space because it affords students the opportunity to diversify their training thus making them more marketable. However, the short time duration of their program may limit useful non-academic options in some cases. I have seen masters students doing internships and other arrangements, but they were creative in seeking and managing those opportunities.

Consider how you will position your masters training in the context of your narrative.

The increasingly popular 4 + 1 programs strengthen technical credentials but usually along similar lines. But they do represent additional technical training that is valued by many employers.

Similarly, students who utilize the masters to diversify their training portfolio have the opportunity to present a tangible example of learning agility. In this case, it may be less about representing yourself as having strong linear technical training. Instead, you bring additional tools to the table and have shown a degree of flexibility.

?

Graduate Students

Ph.D. and PharmD students can take advantage of internships, rotations, fellowships, and postdocs in a business setting. These experiences may be transformational in opening doors and gaining access to hiring managers. Finding them can be tricky but here is a tip since you are on LinkedIn. When you see a post from someone announcing their opportunity, reach out to them to connect and then follow-up with questions. How did they identify that opportunity? What was it like? Would they recommend it to others? Most people are willing to be helpful.

?

Once again, start early and utilize information. You might be a first year Ph.D. or a P1 but now is the time to start understanding your options and begin planning. I can’t emphasize this enough as it is never too early to evaluate the possibilities and potential barriers to those choices.

?

Remember, each level of success becomes the launch platform for even higher achievement. Don’t give up – success goes to those who won’t take no for an answer. Rejection leads to redirection and renewed purpose. Make your journey one of purpose but also one of discovery. The path is rarely if ever a straight line.